


a wrong choice

by takoyuta



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Marvel Cinematic Universe Fusion, Alternate Universe - Spider-Man Fusion, Crossover, M/M, Marvel Universe, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), mark is smart, mark is still clueless, spiderman lee donghyuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2019-10-15 22:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17537894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takoyuta/pseuds/takoyuta
Summary: When Donghyuck Lee gets bitten by a radioactive spider, his life—and even he—turns upside down.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> big big thank you to royaljen—she helped me out by proofreading some of my chapters! please look forward to her works :D
> 
> her story "out from the ice" is out now! go check it out, guys!

Waking up to the same face already gave Donghyuck Lee a bad day. Most would think that he loved his face; they would think that he spent way too much time staring at it in the mirror. Then again, they were probably just as clueless as everyone else was since Donghyuck was an exceptionally good actor. This talent in particular earned him the lead role in the upcoming spring drama production, but a handful of his other classmates ridiculed him, not caring whether he heard them or not.

It was always normal to tease Donghyuck because of how chubby he was. In fact, his elementary classmates would tease him and call him “Mocheeks” because of how big and squishy his cheeks were, just like mochi, the Japanese dessert. If one were to replace his classmates with his mother, he would have loved the nickname, but its overuse had lead to his loathing of it.

Despite the constant comments about his weight in comparison to his other classmates, not everyone judged him for how he looked. This is when Donghyuck's best friend, Nerdy Na Jaemin, came into the picture. Donghyuck had met him at the beginning of their freshman year of high school; they just "clicked," as they often told others. Jaemin’s nickname came from his countless A plus grades and rants about how much he loved chemistry, causing his classmates to switch from admiration to mockery. Thus, Mocheeks and Nerdy Na were dubbed the Dweeb Duo, constantly being ridiculed by certain figures in their high school but were on “okay” terms with others. They were the perfect prey and were just the type of people who would look so vulnerable to pick on.

It was especially easy for people to do this to Donghyuck. There was so much dirt on him to dig up that even after he graduated, the underclassmen would be standing there, looking at the yearbook, laughing at him. It was funny, really, for everyone in the school to find out that he was bisexual. There was not a problem, but Donghyuck made his first mistake in freshman year by trying to ask Felix Lee out on a date. What resulted from it were wet pants, a rejection, and a sea of laughter. Most have moved on, but Donghyuck, a regretful sophomore, was definitely not part of that crowd.

And that, my friends, is a summary of Donghyuck’s social life.

Donghyuck’s eyes felt heavy; he was about to fall asleep. His head pounded from the heat, the numbers, and the constant effort to keep his head up. The classroom seemed like a desert to him. He tugged on the collar of his moist M-sized shirt, scratching the part of his back where the tag poked him. Algebra Two was the last class of the day, and all he wanted to do was go home, neglect his homework, and watch some TV. It seemed to him that time stretched itself out the most when he felt like he least needed it. His eyes trailed from the whiteboard, to the teacher’s arm, and up to her head until he saw her eyes, which scanned the classroom for any sleeping or daydreaming students. Donghyuck lazily nodded along with each point that she made when, in reality, he was paying no attention whatsoever. It always worked. He secretly checked his phone, turning it on inside his school bag, to look at the time. There was one more minute, and he stared at it until the number moved from three twenty-nine to three thirty. Immediately he closed his notebooks and packed his things into his pitch black backpack. He could no longer stand school; he felt a tug at his heart so strong that it seemed to want to pull him out the doors and into the subway.

_Ring!_

The sound of a ringing bell played through the speaker in the corner of the classroom, which signalled everyone’s favorite time of day—the end of school. Donghyuck fumbled with his bag’s zipper from the and managed to zip it up a few seconds later. He heaved his bag onto his back, ready to leave to see his Aunt May, who he had stayed with ever since he moved to New York from Korea. He walked past his locker and towards the front door, watching it get larger as he neared it. He could almost taste freedom. He could almost taste the fresh air of New York. He could almost taste the instant noodles that he was going to slurp up as he watches _Kingsman: The Secret Service_ on his laptop.

Just as his hand was on the metal handle of the school’s transparent door ready to push it open, he realized something that made him stop in his tracks. That one realization forced him to wave good-bye to _Kingsman_ and a relaxing afternoon neglecting homework. He needed to rehearse for the play.

He groaned and turned around on his heel to walk to the gymnasium where the stage would be. He felt way too lazy to walk all the way there, but he had to. After a few seconds of walking Donghyuck wondered where Jaemin was. His best friend was part of the drama staff, and the two always walked together. He scanned the area for any sign of Jaemin, but the boy was not in sight. He’s probably busy, he thought as he pushed the doors to a different wing of the school building.

Ah, there was Jaemin.

He leant against the lockers, sending a glare towards a person in front of him. Jaemin’s glasses were off and in the hands of none other than Joshua Moon, also known by his classmates as Flash. Joshua was always known for his flamboyant and mostly rude actions, and he was the main source of all the ridicule that circulated the Dweeb Duo.

Joshua leaned in. “You know, Jae, you actually look pretty hot without your glasses,” he said, a grin growing on his face. “How about you lose 'em?”

With that, Joshua threw the pair of gold-rimmed glasses onto the floor and raised his leg to stomp on them, but Donghyuck arrived just in time to scoop them out of the way. Joshua glared at the boy, then he smirked. He walked towards Donghyuck and placed a hand on his shoulder. “What’s Lardass Lee doing here?”

“Stay the hell away from Jaemin, Taeeun,” Donghyuck sneered in his native tongue, slapping Joshua's hand off his shoulder.

“My name’s _Joshua_ ,” was the response accompanied by a glare. “and don’t think that without your pretty boy in glasses here saving your ass from being a complete loser, you'd still have friends. I was just doing him a favor by trying to get rid of what made him look so ugly.”

Donghyuck ignored the remark and swerved around Joshua. He grabbed Jaemin’s wrist and was about to walk the final remaining steps towards the gymnasium for rehearsals. “Let’s get out of here, Jae.”

Joshua grinned. “We aren’t done here, Lee!”

After pushing the large, blue gym doors open, Donghyuck returned the glasses to his best friend. “What an asshole,” he remarked.

“It’s Flash. What do you expect?” Jaemin snorted as he wiped the lenses. “Anyway, he shouldn’t be in our thoughts. It’s not good to waste time on someone pointless. Let’s get to rehearsals, star of the show!”

、、、

Six o'clock was the time when Donghyuck was supposed to start his homework after a marathon of TV shows or a run-through of a movie. He returned home at six o'clock, finding no more time to kick back and relax. As he inserted the key into the hole, Donghyuck pushed the squeaky apartment door open. He winced at the sound. _I need oil_ , he thought as he shook his head at the painfully annoying, creaking hinges.

“Aunt May!” he called, speaking in Korean. In no more than three seconds, a thirty-five-year-old Korean woman stumbled into the room, a wooden spoon in her hand.

She smiled. “Welcome back, Donghyuck. How was your day?”

“It was okay. I think Flash hates me now more than ever, but eh,” he replied. May slapped his arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Speak in English,” she said in a slightly scolding tone. “No wonder your Literature grade is so low! You have to practice everywhere, even at home.”

“Ugh, okay. I’ll go to my room now,” he replied after mentally switching languages.

“Don’t forget to do your homework!”

With that, Donghyuck sauntered into his dark room, and as soon as he closed the door, he dropped his bag on the floor and jumped onto the bottom bunk of the bunk bed in the corner. He buried his head into the pillow and screamed to let his stress out, but instantly regretted it, as he thought it was quite unnecessary. The sunlight from outside entered through the window as he had not bothered to close the blinds, the light illuminating the room. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked from his pillow to his desk and groaned. He did not want to do homework. His eyes then wandered to his bag on the floor, then his mind wandered to the multiple deadlines coming up for him.

He sighed, got out of bed, and zipped open his bag to remove the textbooks he carried home.


	2. Chapter 2

Queens was filled with lively talking. Pedestrians crossed the street, conversing with each other as if they had known each other for years. Babies wailed and mothers caressed, and there was the occasional couple sharing a kiss near a street lamp. The sun smiled upon the people on that lovely Tuesday, allowing itself to beam its hot rays onto the brick-colored street. Restaurants and cafes were filled with citizens and tourists alike, buzzing with the life that usually came with living in a place like New York.

Amongst the huge crowd of pedestrians on the sidewalk stood a spider. It was neither big nor small, and it had a strange marbled design of red and blue on its abdomen. However, as strange as it was, no one gave it a second glance. It made small, tapping noises on the ground, too quietfor the human ear to hear, and crossed the road, avoiding the multiple feet that were stepping down.

It entered a cafe. It crawled along the beige walls and past a table where a couple sat. It stopped. Then, it turned back. Slowly but surely, it crawled onto a man’s jeans, searching for something. Unsatisfied, the spider jumped back onto the wall, which made that same small tapping noise with its eight little legs. It did the same thing to all the people in the cafe who looked fit and healthy, but all it did was crawl back onto the wall in search of a new person. It decided to move higher to get a better view of the people and crawled over a clock that read four fifty-one. Without a second inspection of the cafe, the spider crawled into a drain and blindly wandered in search of another way out.

It found itself in a public restroom. A teenage boy with orange hair stepped out of one of the stalls, washed his hands, and left. The spider, exiting through a hole in the corner of the door, followed him. A wall of dull green lockers towered over it, and he started to wander along the halls. It did not take its eyes off the boy. To avoid the feet of bustling students, it crawled up onto the wall. Its bright design was prominent against the white paint, but no one seemed to see it. It passed over a clock that read five twenty-six. The boy turned left and pushed open the blue double doors underneath a plaque that read “ARTS AND SPORTS.” Before the door swung back into it place, the spider crawled inside. There was a blur of sounds that it could not comprehend, so it relied on its vision, following the boy who pushed yet another set of double doors, this time colored red.

A bright and confusing light shone from the ceiling of the new room that it entered, and basketball was bouncing toward it. Despite being disoriented, the spider saw the ball and scurried out of the way. After it reoriented itself, it trailed after the orange haired boy once again, making sure he would never leave its sight. At the end of the large room was a stage with a black curtain. It crept up the stage and passed underneath the curtain, relieved that there was not as much light as before. It searched for a darker spot and resolved to hide within a pile of costumes to wait for the right person to come. A blur of sounds in the form of vibrations came towards him again, and it was deafening. The spider sat and waited.

A large hand shuffled the pile of clothes, tumbling the spider over and over again. It wanted to get on top of the hand. With a great struggle, it lightly jumped onto the palm and climbed around to the back. The hand smelled so good—it tasted delicious, too. It was a whole new experience compared to the men and women at the cafe, and if the spider could talk, it would say: “Eureka!” In one swift motion, the spider plunged its fangs into the skin. In another swift motion, it was in the air as its fangs were ripped out of the flesh. It landed on its back but got up and followed the boy who was now screaming.

“THERE’S A SPIDER! IT BIT ME!” Donghyuck screamed. He felt a stinging sensation on his hand where it bit him. The spider advanced, and he screamed again. “SOMEONE, KILL IT!”

The spider stopped moving. Donghyuck’s eyes were on it. They both looked at each other for a long time, and Donghyuck felt a tingle in his head which caused his hairs to stand up on his arms. He felt some kind of connection to it, and his attitude towards it changed for a few seconds. He wanted to pick it up and observe it more closely. He wanted to poke its strange blue and red abdomen to see how it would react. He was curious.

Then, a shoe came down. _Squish. Crunch. ___

__Donghyuck snapped out of his trance. He looked at the owner of the shoe, who was the orange-haired boy. Donghyuck sighed in relief despite the confusion he felt. “Thanks, Felix.”_ _

__“No problem,” the orange-haired boy responded in his thick Australian accent, a smile gracing his lips. He lifted up his shoe to reveal a bunch of innards that mostly came from the spider’s abdomen. His face contorted in disgust. “Gross. Mr. Smith, can I go wash my shoe off real quick?”_ _

__A tall man with brown hair and a moustache turned around, clipboard in hand. “Sure thing, Felix. Someone, clean this up!”_ _

__As Felix left, Donghyuck smiled. Then, he remembered that one fateful day during his freshman year and cringed. He snapped back into reality and heard Joshua and his friends tease the boy from behind the curtain. Donghyuck peeked out, gritting his teeth and tightening his grip on the curtain as he watched the conversation unfold._ _

__“Leaky Lee’s going to the restroom again!” one shouted._ _

__“Where’s Donghyuck?” another one asked in laughter._ _

__Joshua laughed and threw a basketball at Felix, but Felix dodged in time. Donghyuck sighed once again in relief and closed the curtain._ _

__Mr. Smith clapped his hands to get the attention of all the other drama participants. “All right, everyone,” he started, eyes shining behind his spectacles. “Once Felix comes back from the restroom, we’ll run through everyone’s favorite part: the kiss scene. I’ll head to the restroom myself. Don’t try anything while I’m gone.”_ _

__When Mr. Smith left with a two-eyed wink, groans filled the stage._ _

__“Jaemin,” Donghyuck called, immediately getting the attention of his best friend, “do you know where the bandages are? The spider bit me.”_ _

__“Wait. What?” Jaemin asked in surprise. He grabbed Donghyuck’s hand to get a better look. “You’re not dizzy? You don’t feel anything? Some spiders are venomous, you know. There was that recent infestation of brown recluses in the lab nearby. Maybe some of them escaped and came here.”_ _

__Donghyuck blinked. “No? I feel completely fine. Just a bandage will do.”_ _

__Jaemin walked to the wall and pulled out a first aid kit from one of the bags. He opened it and pulled out a beige bandage. He motioned for Donghyuck to come nearer, then he unwrapped the small, sticky bandage and placed it on the small wound where the spider bit. “Just tell me if you feel anything strange. I’ll walk home with you.”_ _

__Donghyuck smiled, looking at the band aid that covered the back of his hand. He started to walk back towards the center of the stage to run through a few lines before the kiss scene. “Thanks, Jaemin. I have to rehearse now. See you later!”_ _

__He went from looking at Jaemin to lying on the ground, his tailbone in complete agony._ _

__“Watch it!” a voice said. Donghyuck felt a pair of eyes burning into his forehead, but he was too focused on his butt to notice. “Hey, you’re that lardass guy, right?”_ _

__Donghyuck’s head whipped up in a glare, expecting to find Joshua. He was wrong when he saw a large pair of eyes staring right at him. The boy’s hair was a brownish black color, and his jawline was sharp. His dark eyes blinked, expecting an answer. Donghyuck rolled his eyes. He did not like this boy no matter how attractive he looked. “Don’t call me that.”_ _

__“Or what? You don’t seem like someone to fight.”_ _

__“Just don’t fucking call me that.”_ _

__Donghyuck and his newly made enemy glared at each other. After a few seconds of staring, the unknown boy said, “Tch” and walked away with a scowl on his face. Donghyuck massaged his head after that interaction. That was stressful, he thought. Jaemin rushed to his side._ _

__“Hyuck, do you know who that is?” he asked. Donghyuck shook his head. “That’s Mark Lee, that new guy from Canada or something. He hangs out with Flash.”_ _

__“Why haven’t I seen him around, then? Flash always likes to piss us off.”_ _

__Jaemin shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t seen him around, either. I just heard it from those fangirls of his. They were so fucking obvious it was hilarious. One of them was like, ‘ _Oh Em Gee! Look at Mark Lee! _’ and she would point at him walking across the hall.”___ _

____A pair of hands clapped. Donghyuck and Jaemin looked at the source, and it was Mr. Smith smiling from ear to ear, Felix standing behind him. “All right, everyone! Let’s get rehearsing!”_ _ _ _

____、、、_ _ _ _

____Donghyuck smiled as he opened the door to the apartment. He believed he nailed the kiss scene, mind flashing back to the moment he held the lead actress Mary Watson’s cheek, placed his thumb on her lips, and kissed his thumb. It was a picture perfect moment. He removed his black earphones from his ears and greeted Aunt May, who called him in to help her cook. He stuffed the earphones into his pocket, forgetting to turn off the music by Michael Jackson that was blaring through._ _ _ _

____May handed her nephew a cabbage and instructed him to wash it. “So, how was school?”_ _ _ _

____“Eh,” Donghyuck replied with a shrug. He forgot to speak in English and was oblivious to May’s glare. “I met this new gu—ow!”_ _ _ _

____May had slapped his arm. “English, Donghyuck! You’re already getting a little better at it!”_ _ _ _

____Donghyuck sighed. “Yes, Aunt May.”_ _ _ _

____He finished washing the cabbage and pulled out a cutting board from a cupboard. He started to chop the cabbage while telling his aunt about his day. After doing so, he let May rant about her day as well. She was especially heated up when she talked about a woman in line at the supermarket with whom she had a fight with. He smiled, amused by how passionate she was about that woman. May was a very special person in Donghyuck’s life—a second mother. He would never want to hurt her, and he definitely would never want anyone else to hurt her._ _ _ _

____It turned out that lying was the best option to prevent that from happening._ _ _ _


	3. Chapter 3

Donghyuck blew a strand of hair out of his face as he glared at the television in front of him. In that television, “Ant Man” was giving the detention students a long and tedious lecture on the consequences you face when disobeying a school authority. Donghyuck looked down at his gloved hands and sighed. He wanted to go home and hide in the folds of his blanket, perhaps get a new identity, and move to Canada, where no one except Mark would be able to recognize him. He shook his head with a sour look, hoping that the name “Mark Lee” would fall out and be lost forever.

Although high school had multiple bad encounters with teachers, students, and late assignments, detention was the most grueling and torturous. Instead of talking to friends, a person who was sent to detention would be stuck sitting in a desk, watching a fake Ant Man drone on about school rules and respect.

“So, why’re you here?”

Donghyuck whipped his head to look at a girl casually sitting with a notebook on her desk. She looked at him blankly, waiting for him to answer her question.

“Chemistry lab,” he said, blushing as he recalled the embarrassing event. “I broke a window.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why are your gloves still on?”

“That’s the main reason I’m here,” he sighed, still thinking about what happened in full detail. He looked back at his teacher who started to snore and decided his tale to the girl.

Donghyuck had walked into Chemistry class a full mess, especially his hands. His hair looked like a mangled bird’s nest, and his hands looked as if they were the ones who mangled that bird’s nest. Almost everyone had been disgusted by it, and they had made no effort to hide it on their faces.

The chemistry teacher, Mr. Moon, clapped his hands to get the class’s attention. “Good morning, everyone. Today, as you’ve learned in Chapter Two, we will be trying to find the chemical names of certain elements. You can get goggles in the cabinet. Watch me demonstrate first.”

Mr. Moon swirled a clear liquid inside a beaker with a wooden stick, turned a Bunsen burner on, and placed the stick into the fire. The fire glowed an emerald green. He went on to explain that the element he placed into the fire was barium, and he let the class split up into their own groups to start the lab.

Donghyuck slowly gathered the chemical-filled beakers for his group to start testing. He was fine at first in placing the beaker with lithium onto the lab table. He moved on to barium, happy that nothing strange happened. As he became more and more nervous from thinking that something strange would happen, he gripped the beaker a bit harder. He put it on top of the table, but his fingers would not let go.

“Fuck!” he said in exasperation. “Not again!”

He kept shaking the beaker, paying to attention to its contents spilling about.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

The beaker flew out of his hand and out the window, both smashing and falling into millions of pieces.

“Donghyuck,” Mr. Moon seethed, “clean up your mess and go to detention. Wear gloves to protect yourself.”

Donghyuck had felt a cold heat from the embarrassment he was experiencing. Stiff from attention, he made his way to the gloves and put them on. He cleaned his mess well, and he was inwardly thankful to his fingers since they did not stick.

Then, the gloves would not come off.

“FUCK—”

Donghyuck finished the story with, “and he gave me detention for language and damage to school property.”

The girl blinked. “Wow. That must suck.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Why are you here?”

“No reason,” she replied, shrugging nonchalantly. “I just wanted to come.”

“Kids, stop talking,” said Mr. Callaghan, the supervisor for detention. He yawned. “Listen to Ant Man.”

Donghyuck groaned inside and looked back at the TV. Thinking back, telling that girl made him feel better. However, nervousness started to build up in his stomach the more and more he thought about what he just did. Could she be trusted? What if she was going to harm him? His heart started to race. As Ant Man went on and on about comparing students to worker ants listening to the queen, Donghyuck glanced back at the girl.

She smiled and held up a picture of a boy that deserved to be tossed into the trash. The boy had blue gloves on his hands and broken glass at his feet. “Look, it’s you.”  
Donghyuck sighed.

、、、

“Dude, the hell is up with you today?” Jaemin asked as he ripped a piece of bread with his mouth. He seemed a bit down, but he looked like he was making his best efforts to smile. “Even in chemistry, out of all classes!”

“I don’t even know,” Donghyuck replied with a mouthful of ramen. “It’s strange. I’ll figure it out, though.”

“I heard that goody two-shoes Lardass Lee got a detention today!” Joshua announced in the middle of the cafeteria where his lackeys and friends alike sat.

“Why do you even pay attention to him, dude? He’s nothing special,” came the voice of none other than Mark Lee. Donghyuck chewed his ramen with more intensity and anger.

“Wow, I thought people from Canada were nice,” laughed Jason Parker, another friend of Joshua’s, as he fist-bumped the Canadian.

Donghyuck, in the midst of listening, felt the same sensation that he felt when he looked at the spider. His hairs stood up, and he felt a tingling in his head that seemed to say, “Don’t think. Just move.” And so, he did. He moved his head to the right and watched as a burger hit Jaemin, who was sitting right in front of him, in the face. Donghyuck felt the need to laugh, but he held it in in respect for his friend. He looked behind him to see Joshua and his friends laughing, and all pleasant feelings washed away. They were replaced by anger, but his thoughts were interrupted when someone yelled, “Food fight!”

No one moved. No one wanted to get their clothes dirty. The one who yelled shrank back into his seat in embarrassment.

“Asshole,” Donghyuck muttered under his breath as the chatter in the cafeteria came back. “Jaemin, I think you should’ve stayed in Korea.”

Donghyuck was about to laugh again when he saw Jaemin’s face darken at the mention of his home country. Then, after two years of friendship, he realized that Jaemin never talked about his parents nor did he invite anyone to his house. Donghyuck may be an ace at math and chemistry, but he wasn’t that bright. Donghyuck tried to analyze his face in search for any answers to the growing questions in his mind. He felt a tinge of betrayal as he saw that Jaemin was keeping a secret, but at the same time he felt a strange understanding. He did not know how he understood since he had not kept any secrets from his best friend, but he felt it.

“Are you okay?” Donghyuck asked. Jaemin’s eyes slowly made their way up to look into his, the dark look not leaving.

“Yeah,” the boy muttered back. “It’s just…unhappy memories, that’s all.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s done and done. I’m here now. It’s no use crying over spilled milk.” Jaemin let out a humorless laugh, seemingly forgetting about Donghyuck sitting right in front of him.

The bell rang.

“I gotta go.”

Jaemin picked up his bag and left, leaving Donghyuck to wonder about what had happened in Korea that scarred his best friend.


	4. Chapter 4

“Donghyuck, we have to talk,” May said in a solemn voice as she opened the door to the boy’s room. “It’s about your behaviour at school.”

Donghyuck made a confused and surprised face as he shot up from his bed. “What are you talking about?” he asked. At that moment, all the detentions, broken windows, and ripped dodgeballs came blasting back into his mind. _Oh, shit _.__

“I’ve received calls from your school about your behaviour. Since when have you been so rebellious? Look. I know. I know what you’re going through and what’s happening to you—”

“ _What_?”

“—and all the changes that your body is going through, and I understand that it may be hard to fit in. But rebelling is not the answer! You’re at school to learn and make more friends, and even though your body is changing more and more, you need to know that you are loved and accepted.”

“Aunt May, I’m not going through puberty again.”

May hugged him. “Shh, shh. It’s okay. You don’t have to lie to me. I understand.”

Donghyuck looked uncomfortable and awkward as May left his room with a smile. He lay back down, wondering why he, of all the other people of the world, had had to go through all of this: why he had to have everything stick to his fingertips and feet, why he had to throw everything, and even why he had to go to so many detentions and break the trust of his favorite teachers. The thought of one of his past experiences (he had stepped on a piece of toilet paper that was still connected to the roll) made him shudder.

Then, Donghyuck had an idea. It was, without a doubt, incredibly stupid.

He locked his room, opened the window, and crawled onto the fire escape. As he dashed down the doors, a mental image of him doing what he was going to do formed in his mind. The lump of nerves building up in his throat was swallowed down as his legs carried him farther down the stairs. Once on the ground, brick walls towered over him. They stared at him, taunting him, telling him to try his luck.

With a deep breath, Donghyuck placed his right hand on the wall. He placed his left hand, then his right foot, then his left foot. With another deep breath, he looked down to see that he was off the ground. Fascinated, he tried to lift his hand to climb higher. The keyword? “Tried.”

Donghyuck, stuck and confused, began to think of all the horrid situations that might occur. One such thought, for example, was a mugger who would take all the money out of his pockets while he was helplessly attached to the wall, with no one there to hear his cries for help. Panic blossomed in his chest, and heart started to palpitate.

_Shh. Calm down, Donghyuck. It’s only a small distance from the ground_ , he told himself as he rapidly inhaled and exhaled. His focus shifted from his pounding chest to the aching in his back. He had fallen onto the concrete ground of the alleyway with unparallelled grace: a leg in the air, a magnificent three-hundred-sixty-degree spin, a scared and confused mind, a shout for his mother in Korean, and, the grand finale, a death blow right to the tailbone. After he gave his tailbone a little nudge and winced at the pain, he looked at his fingertips and realized that his grip would only release if he relaxed. Donghyuck stood back up, rubbed a sore spot on his back, and closed his eyes. Upon opening them, one hand was on the wall, then the next, then a foot, then the other foot. It was all just like before, but he made sure to calm his nerves and relax his grip whenever he climbed higher. The fifteen-year-old boy managed to climb above the first floor of apartments.

There was a big problem. The further he climbed, the more his head spun. The curiosity, panic, and adrenaline ate at him, telling him to look down. And unfortunately, poor little Donghyuck listened.

The world looked as if all had gone wrong, like the view one would see when going down a roller coaster. _Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts_ , he mouthed, eyes squeezed shut as he tried to forget the mountainous distance between him and the ground. He muttered a small prayer underneath his breath. Images of rainbows and unicorns filled the dark, blank canvas before him. Then, May made an appearance. He chuckled at the thought, suddenly forgetting that he was stuck onto a wall, fingers loosening when she started ranting about her day and her shopping. What happened next was a blur. The brick-framed blue sky shrank more and more as he fell, and a sinking feeling settled into his stomach.

_Don’t think. Just move._

Donghyuck did not think. His body did the work for him. His head spun, and he ended up staring back at the same walls that had taunted him just minutes before. This time, they were silent. Donghyuck could hear nothing but his heavy breathing. His knee ached, and he leaned his back on the wall behind him to massage it. He stopped massaging as a thought crossed his mind.

He had landed upright.

、、、

“Electron Configuration,” Mr. Moon said as he wrote the words on the whiteboard. “If you did the reading I assigned you, this should be a review to you. Can anyone tell me what this is?”

Jaemin’s hand shot up before anyone else’s. “Electron configuration is the arrangement of electrons in an atom and is unique to each atom of an element.”

Mr. Moon smiled at Jaemin. “Well done, Jaemin. Now, can anyone tell me the basic rules for arrangement?”

No hands were in the air. Mr. Moon scanned the room for any victims who lazed around, paying no attention to the lecture at all. His eyes landed on one particular girl whom he had not seen in quite a while.

“Nancy,” he said with a sarcastic smile, “back from detention, I see. Why don’t you answer this question?”

“Sure,” Nancy said, shrugging. “The basic rules are the Aufbau principle…”

Donghyuck glanced at Nancy for a second, then tuned out the sounds of chemistry. He stirred a concoction within a beaker inside his lab desk drawer. Underneath the beaker was a piece of notebook paper titled “web formula” with a bunch of chemical symbols written and a few diagrams as well. A corner of it stuck out of the drawer in case Donghyuck needed to pull it out and hide it. He looked back and forth between Mr. Moon and the formula, feeling the nervousness and adrenaline of not trying to get caught rush through him. He was almost shaking as he poured a clear liquid into the beaker and rapidly stirred it.

“Donghyuck! What are you doing!” Mr. Moon thundered, flouncing over to the lab table.

Donghyuck grabbed the corner of the piece of paper and stuck it in the pocket of the green hoodie he was wearing. He used his foot to slam the drawer closed. “Nothing.”

“Why is your notebook empty? You should be taking notes.”

“I was. I just turned to a different page.”

Mr. Moon flipped the pages to find nothing. “Don’t lie to me. I heard something close. Let me check your drawers.”

Donghyuck felt all the eyes of his classmates on him as Mr. Moon opened each drawer and checked it. He broke out in a cold sweat as he scanned the classroom. Eyes. Dozens of eyes stared right at him as Mr. Moon scanned his drawers for the treasures within. All but one pair of eyes were on him. Nancy McDonie, the girl he had seen in detention the other day, faced another direction.

Mr. Moon placed the beaker filled with white, fiber-like fluids flowing within it in front of the boy. “Do you have an explanation, young man?”

“N-No.”

“That’s detention for you. If you don’t want another detention, you will come here after school to help me clean up.”

Donghyuck gave a small sigh. “Yes, sir.”

The bell rang. “I’ll see you after school, then, Mr. Lee.” Mr. Moon patted Donghyuck’s back.

Donghyuck sped-walked out of the chemistry lab and to his locker. His hands were shaking and eyes widened from the almost traumatizing encounter with his chemistry teacher, especially frightened when he used the name “Mr. Lee.” His imagination made him both embarrassed and scared of what was going to happen by the end of the day. He was going to be in a room with the one and only Mr. Moon, alone, cleaning up chemicals and wiping lab tables. There was no doubt that questions will be asked. Just the thought of it made Donghyuck blush madly and sweat more than before. He regretted wearing a hoodie to school.

The second Donghyuck’s butt came in contact with the chair at his usual lunch table, Jaemin’s mouth started moving.

“First you get detention for breaking and swinging stuff around, and now you’re getting detention for mixing chemicals together. What’s going on with you?” he asked.

Donghyuck froze. “U-Uh—well, you see—I, uh—” he sputtered, then sighed. “I’m going through puberty.”

“Yeah, and I have a C in chemistry. I call bullshit. Tell me what’s going on.”

Donghyuck took some time to observe Jaemin’s face. It was paler, and the dark circles underneath his eyes were more prominent than ever. His lips were cracked, and he swore there was even a split. His cheek was slightly discolored, and Donghyuck assumed that he had tried to cover something up with makeup.

“You’re one to talk! You’re paler and you look more unhealthy than ever. Tell me what’s happening to you and then I’ll tell you what’s happening to me.”

“I stayed up watching anime until four last night.”

Donghyuck laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, okay. That explains the dark circles but nothing else. I get that you like violent animes, but I never knew they’d actually come out of the screen to _hit_ you. Explain the split lip and bruise on your face. By the way, you suck at makeup.”

“I didn’t do the makeup,” Jaemin muttered, quiet enough that Donghyuck only heard a blur of words.

“What did you say?”

“Noth—”

Jaemin was interrupted when Donghyuck ducked, avoiding Joshua’s hand that was about to shove his face into a plate of pizza. When both looked at the hand, they could see that another hand was holding it in place. Donghyuck followed the hand from the fingers to the arms to the shoulders and then to the face, and it shocked him for sure. Mark Lee, the jerk he had bumped into on set, was keeping Joshua from following through with the pizza smash.

“Killjoy,” Joshua said, yanking his hand from Mark’s grip and walking away.

Mark looked blankly at Donghyuck. “Be careful. Nice dodge.”


	5. Chapter 5

Donghyuck paced back and forth on his bedroom ceiling, nose stuck in a comic book, ignoring the small amount of blood rushing to his head. He had finished his homework, which left the whole weekend to do as he pleased.While reading the battered book, he recalled one of the last memories he had with his father back in Korea. That was before he had stared at Seoul from an airplane window, tears in his eyes.

“Daddy!” he had called, seven years old with a Korean translation of  _ Magnificent Magnus _ , an American comic book that had gained international acclaim, in his hand. His little feet carried him across the house. 

Lee Hajoon, Donghyuck’s father, stood in the doorway smiling from ear to ear. His hand held a black briefcase with a variation of locks on it: padlocks, number codes and even a fingerprint scanner.  With one knee on the floor, his arms opened wide to greet his son. The smell of Donghyuck’s hair flooded his nose, and as Donghyuck’s little nose poked at his chest, happiness swelled within. He chuckled as he rubbed Donghyuck’s back.

They pulled apart and smiled at each other. “I missed you, Donghyuck! You grew so much!” Hajoon exclaimed. “Did Mommy come home all right?”

Donghyuck nodded his head enthusiastically. “Mhm! Mommy even bought me a book!” He waved his comic book in the air. “When I grow up, I wanna be a superhero with a cape and a mask like Magnificent Magnus! I wanna help people just like you, Daddy!”

“I’m sure you will,” Hajoon smiled fondly and chuckled as he patted Donghyuck’s head. “But I’m no superhero. When  _ you’re _ a superhero, though, you’ll definitely save the day. And look at you! You’re already a little hero yourself. I heard you helped a cat last week. How strong of you.”

Donghyuck pouted. “I wanted to keep it, but… It already has an owner.” Donghyuck’s face lit up once more. “But that’s okay! It’s safe now! Even the owner said I can visit it too!”

“Isn’t that good?” Hajoon said with a light laugh. He paused. When he looked at his watch,  his face turned cold. “Okay, now, I have to talk to your mother. And I’ll tell you everything about New York later.”

Donghyuck stared at his father’s back disappearing into the kitchen, feeling somewhat rejected.

At the time, Donghyuck had only heard stories about New York; stories of the broadway shows, the stars, and the life there only made him more curious as to what it was like. He imagined walking hand-in-hand with his parents, looking at the night lights as he licked a cone of ice cream and marvelled at how busy the people were, feeling the cool air on his cheeks, and watching a show to wrap up the day.

His imagination came crashing down just a month later.

He saw it on the news. Just after his parents’ private jet left the ground, the workers around the runway heard gunshots. Soon, after the gunshots stopped, the plane tilted to the ground and crashed. They could do nothing but stand and stare at the broken, burning plane. The same workers explored the wreck site and found the Lee couple and staff members with bullet holes in their chests, a broken black briefcase, and a staff member in place of a dead pilot, both hands still on the control wheel.

While this happened, Donghyuck sat comfortably at home, wrapped up in the blanket his father had given him all the way from New York, ready to watch  _ Magnificent Magnus _ ’s television debut. His day ended in heartbreak, pain, and disbelief. The shock got to his head. A tear slipped down his cheek, then another, then another.

“Dead” was a word often used in  _ Magnificent Magnus _ . From Donghyuck’s reading, he knew that once an enemy was dead, it was not coming back for good. The reporter’s voice resounded throughout his head.

“ _ Lee Hajoon and Jeon Minjae were found in the airplane, both pronounced dead on scene… _ ”

He knew his parents would never come back.

“Hi, Donghyuck! I’m your Auntie May.” The voice was comforting, but the message did not seem to reach its destination. Although it had been a while since the death of his parents, Donghyuck felt just as blue as when he first heard the news. He did not want to see this unknown woman and rolled to the other side of his bed. A few moments later, he felt the edge of his bed sink. The comforting voice spoke again. “You like New York, right? I’m here to take you there.”

His head slowly turned to look at the woman in front of him. The woman, Aunt May, smiled.  _ Why is she smiling? _ he thought.  _ Mommy and Daddy died. _

_ Mommy and Daddy died. _

_ Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. _ The raincloud that haunted him for the past few weeks began to thunder and pour. His heart had felt heavy before, but now, like a dam, it burst, letting all his love flow out. His tears wetted the blanket his father gave him. “D-Daddy’s g-gone,” he choked in between his sobs and wails. “Why are you smiling? I don’t like you!”

May placed a comforting hand on his head, but he moved away. Patting his head was Daddy’s job, not hers. “I smile because it’s what helps me be strong.”

Donghyuck’s crying abruptly stopped. “S-Strong?”

May nodded. “Your father told me all about you wanting to be a hero, and heroes are always strong. You want to be a hero, yes?”

The boy nodded.

“Then you have to be strong, too. Now, come along. I’ll help you pack up for your trip.”

A small smile formed on his tear stained face. 

_ Strong.  _

Donghyuck snapped out of his little flashback as he noticed a tear sliding up his forehead and into his hairline. It slid along a strand of his hair and dripped down onto the floor. After furiously rubbing his eyes, he tried his best to focus on the comic book once more. A swirl of emotions in his chest—mostly nostalgia, sadness, and a few other nameless feelings he was unable to describe. As he read the thought bubbles and text bubbles on the vibrantly colored book, they grew more and more unsettled until he could not take it any more. He closed it and examined the title page again. The title read:  _ Magnificent Magnus: The Attack of Medusa _ . He remembered clutching it on the plane in anxiety, praying that he would not come to the same fate as his parents. 

His father’s voice echoed in his head. “ _ When you’re a superhero, you’ll definitely save the day _ .”

Donghyuck jumped down from the ceiling and let the blood rush back down from his head. His head spun as he reoriented himself to the right position and direction. It was surprising to him, actually, that it felt less uncomfortable than it was supposed to be (his experience on the upside-down roller coaster at an amusement park was the definition of uncomfortable). Then, he threw his jacket on, picked up his wallet from the top of his drawer, and made for the shopping mall, where he would attempt to buy the items to make his new super-suit, which would look just as good, no,  _ better _ than Magnificent Magnus.

 

、、、

 

_ What have I done? _

In summary, he had made some very bad decisions. He spent a grand total of seventy dollars, which he had been saving up to buy the new limited edition  _ Star Wars _ action figures, on a red hoodie, blue sweatpants, a metal water bottle, and spare parts. His entire mouth was dry from haggling with the workers to lower the price of those parts. He felt drained, both of energy and of money. But he had not planned on stopping there, so he continued.

His closet revealed many abominable things, the ugliest being an old red t-shirt which he outgrew a few years ago. He grabbed it and cringed at the weird “Save the Chubby Unicorns” slogan. Then he grabbed a pair of swimming goggles from a box in the corner of the closet.

All the items he acquired lay before Donghyuck in all their glory. May’s sewing kit that he had taken from her room sat on his desk. Walking forward, Donghyuck seized the old shirt. He folded it inside-out and started cutting. His progress continued the whole night as he tampered with the spare parts, cut fabric, sewed and glued goggles, and poked himself. There was a little panel in his ceiling that provided a hiding place for his newly-made suit. When he looked at the finished product, he was not satisfied at all. Nevertheless, he was proud of the fruit of his labor.

He looked at the bulky contraption sitting atop of his desk amongst crumpled paper. The fruit of his labor had not finished growing just yet.

The next morning, in chemistry, Mr. Moon was replaced by Mr. Callaghan, who slumped in his chair the entire class, reading off his computer screen aloud. It was the most active state that Donghyuck had ever seen him in. Donghyuck thanked the Lord in the sky that Mr. Moon had not come in that day (“Your teacher is sick and asked me to sub in for him. Do what you need to do, I guess. Take notes, too.”). The drawer was open, and the web, with some tweaking here and there, was strong. As he lifted the stirrer up and observed the glistening white fibers, he noticed that a few ants had stuck onto it.  _ Gross _ , he thought, but he paid no more attention to it when he heard a group assignment being given to the class.

As he watched the lazy teacher drone on and on like Ant Man had in detention, Donghyuck smiled to himself, excitement bubbling in his chest.


	6. Chapter 6

Flying was a concept that almost everyone at some point wanted to achieve. When airplanes came, humans wanted more. They wanted to fly on their own, up in the sky, free as a bird without a single care in the world. And that was exactly what Donghyuck was doing.

He was not necessarily flying since he had no wings, but it sure felt like it. All clad in his hoodie and sweatpants, Donghyuck swung through Queens with the temptation to scream his lungs out. With each plunge downwards came a certain adrenaline that took over his whole body and pushed him to stretch his arm out, press the button on the web shooters that weighed his wrists down, release a web, and swing. He finally felt free and detached from everything. It was probably his brain turning into mush from the amount of physical effort he was exerting, but nevertheless, he loved it.

 _Thwip, release. Thwip, release,_ Donghyuck repeated to himself, swearing that he needed to keep repeating it until he was able to do so without thinking much.

The first time he fell, he screamed aloud until he reminded himself to fling the strings from his web shooters; later on, he swung into a wall from thinking too much. His cheeks still felt hot and his head was still ringing about an hour later from the great deal of embarrassment he was struck with.

There he sat on the rooftop, heart racing, panting like a mad dog. His mask smelled of sweat and dust, hindering the heaps of air he was inhaling, and his suit stuck to his body, absorbing the beads of sweat that had formed. The goggles turned foggy; he could not see anything within a foot away from him. When the mask was pulled off, cool wind rushed to his face as his cheeks lost their heat. It weaved through his hair and cooled his entire body just a slight bit. He felt a shiver down his spine once the wind reached his neck, and he lay down, head resting on his folded hands, listening to the peaceful bustle of the citizens of Queens.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

The peace was disturbed by the alarm of a car and a flurry of yells. Donghyuck rushed to the edge of the roof to see what was going on. The scene consisted of two men: one was near a wailing car, and the other was rushing out of a nearby shop, yelling and swearing as loud as a man screaming into a megaphone. A crowd started to form around the sight. Donghyuck supposed that the car was about to be stolen if everyone kept standing there, watching the scene play out. _This is my chance_ , he thought. _I’ll finally get to try being a hero_.

He pulled his mask down and stood on the jagged, cracked edge of the roof, taking a deep breath before launching his web and jumping off.

He made sure to touch the ground softly as to give the thief a surprise attack, but he already knew his presence was known. Throughout the crowd, cameras flashed and phones recorded videos, and there were murmurs going, “Who is that?” The man who was yelling even stopped. But the man who was trying to steal the car kept going. An air of alarm and curiosity hung over the people watching in the area. Donghyuck’s hands started to shake because of the amount of attention he drew. Nevertheless, he planned on playing it cool and leaned on the car with one arm, the other one resting on his hip. The small laughs and giggles around him caused him to shake more with anxiety and contemplate whether or not he was actually going to do what he planned on doing. Then, his mind blanked and his mouth moved.

“Uh, hey! Is this your car?” he asked. He wanted to shove a web up his mouth to shut himself up.

The thief slowly turned around to look at him. Once fully turned, he burst out laughing. “Yeah. What’s it to you, Captain Goggles?”

“Where are your keys?”

“Locked ‘em inside. I’m trying to get in.”

Donghyuck looked to the man who was yelling in the space enclosed by the audience. The man looked like a police officer with a moustache who just stopped by to get some donuts and coffee. “How ‘bout you? Why were you yelling?”

“He’s tryna steal my car!” the man yelled, holding up a set of keys. “I have the car keys. Watch!”

“Don’t do that—”

Moustache Man pressed a button and unlocked the car. The thief found his opportunity and opened the door to the car, but Donghyuck was faster than him. Donghyuck released a string of web that stuck the thief’s hand to the top of the car. Then, he shot another one at the thief’s head, banging it onto the door and knocking him out. The crowd erupted with pleasantly calm applause save the occasional “woot.” _That was easy,_ he thought.

“I’ll take him to the police. Nice meeting you, Moustache Man,” he said with a salute and a smile, though he doubted that Moustache Man and the entire crowd could see it through his mask.

He carried the thief like it was almost nothing, slung him over his shoulder, and swung away. A light bulb lit in his head on how to tell the police about the carjacker. He laid the carjacker on a roof (and webbed his arms and legs to it to make sure there were no escapes) and swung back to where the crowd was.

“Does anyone have a pen and paper?” he loudly asked. A little girl rushed from the crowd to give them to him, and he received it with a smile and a small “thank you.”

After a little note, Donghyuck brought the crook to the back of the police station and webbed the note that read: "he tried to steal a car! love, spider man" onto him. He then climbed on top of the roof and lowered himself upside down with his web, yelling at the police officers to check the back of the station before jumping up and swinging away. 

The sun was starting to set. The sky turned pink and orange as Donghyuck swung back to his apartment, thinking, _Hey! I just beat my first bad guy!_ and saying hello to random people while introducing himself as Spider Man for the first time.

、、、

“Dude! That spider guy is awesome!” Joshua gushed to Mark while walking out of the school after the play’s rehearsal ended. “Man! Wish I was there to see him. Did you see him on YouTube? He’s like, I don’t know, a New York version of the Falcon!”

Donghyuck and Jaemin passed by, listening to Joshua rave on and on about why Spider Man was amazing based off of multiple five-minute videos depicting the same scene on YouTube. Donghyuck was beginning to think that Joshua moved on from Hong Kong's flying vigilante and found a new hero to crush on.

“Spider Man’s really famous. And to think that he only showed up yesterday!” Jaemin said. “I don’t really know how I feel about this.”

“I think he means well,” Donghyuck said. “You’ll never know what’ll happen. Besides, he seems pretty cool. Cool enough for Joshua to have a man crush on him, obviously.”

“Yeah. He needs to improve his fighting skills, though. There might be a day when his webs won’t work. His reflexes are amazing, but he just needs to know where to punch.”

“Wow, since when were you a fighting expert?”

Jaemin shrugged, lips turning down in a displeased manner. He paused, then started talking while poking Donghyuck’s belly. “Hey, dude, have you been working out? You lost a lot of weight.”

“Uh—I guess? I’m on a diet.”

“Well, that diet’s working real well. It gave you muscle, too,” Jaemin joked. He looked at his watch and groaned. “I gotta go now. My guardian’s gonna pick me up around this time. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck replied. “I gotta go, too. See ya.”

Donghyuck walked in the direction of the train station, but he made a sharp left turn into an alleyway. Scared of spiders no longer, he brushed away the cobwebs between two filled-to-the-brim trash bins and dropped his bag on the ground, making a tiny cloud of dust around it with a _poof_. He rushed to take off his clothes and slip into his suit in both excitement and anxiety on what someone might think if he saw him. Once he jerked his sweatpants on, he nearly ripped his backpack open and pulled out two bulky items—his web shooters—and attached them to his wrists with some old velcro. He pinned his backpack onto the wall and shot a web at it, then he looked to his watch to count how long he had before it dissolved.

Swinging became more of a stress relief method for him. The drops and jumping fueled him with more energy that caused his mind to clear and heart to leap. Some people pointed him out, some people took pictures, and other people asked him to do a flip. He helped some old men and women cross the road and rescued a dog from a tall tree. Then, while dozing off on the roof of a building, he heard a familiar voice.

“S-Stop! What you want?” it asked in an accent similar to Donghyuck’s when he had first come to New York.

“I just want some dough. You seem like you got some. Come on, give it to me.”

“I speak no English. No bread.”

“Ya stupid or somethin’? I want money. Come on, I know you got some. Hand it over.”

Donghyuck peeked over the edge of the roof like he had before with the carjacker and saw a familiar annoying Canadian getting mugged by some guy holding a gun in an alleyway. Mark’s back was pressed against the wall, fear in his eyes with a bit of misunderstanding mixed within them; the look on his face showed that the mugger most likely did not brush his teeth within the past few months. _He’s a pretty good actor,_ Donghyuck thought to himself. Even though he did not want to help Mark, he needed to. Mark’s eyes widened when he saw Donghyuck slowly lowering himself upside down behind the mugger.

“Ever heard of a job?” Donghyuck asked. “It’s a better waste of time than this shit.”

The mugger turned around. “Oh, it’s you. You’re that Spider Kid from YouTube.”

“It’s Spider _Man_ , and I’m glad you know about me. Now why don’t you walk out of here and leave the kid alone?”

“Listen, Kid, why don’t _you_ scurry on outta here and eat some bugs, hm?”

“Nah, I prefer doing this.”

Not a second later, Donghyuck shot webs at the mugger’s arm, pulling the body to himself and kicking it. In no time, the mugger got up and socked him square in the face. Donghyuck did a double take at the man and rushed to knock him out. _Wow,_ he thought. _Jaemin’s right. I need a punching bag or something._ He slammed the mugger against the wall to knock him out and let him fall to the ground. Mark watched the whole scene, back glued to the wall. As soon as the mugger fell, he rushed to Donghyuck and showered him with thanks.

“Thanks a lot, sir,” Mark said. “I thought he was gonna shoot my brains out if I didn’t give him my money.”

“No prob, M—I mean, random guy—I mean, sir,” Donghyuck sputtered out in a deeper voice. His first instinct was to call Mark by the first name, the second name sounded rude, and the third name was way too formal. Donghyuck felt like dying of embarrassment inside. “Do you need me to take you home? I’m not creepy, I swear.”

Mark made a face. “Dude, what’s with the voice? I know how you sound already. And no thanks, I think I’ll be fine.”

“N-No you don’t! I—I mean—all right, then. Stay safe!”

Donghyuck launched a web in the air and swung away, cheeks burning. Mark stepped out of the alleyway and watched the apparently awkward blur of red and blue get farther away until it disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long to update! hopefully i find more time <3 also check out my friend sonorosie's chensung fic 'out from the ice'! it's connected to this world but from the perspective of different (but some of your favorite) heroes ;)


	7. Chapter 7

“Damn it…” Donghyuck muttered as he looked at his planner. “I still have to do that paper.”

In a nutshell, Donghyuck felt like hiding inside a hole and dying. That was what he had been feeling the entire month ever since he had first appeared as Spider Man. All stress, no relief. It was a cycle: go to school, beat up bad guys, go home, and sleep at three in the morning. He thought people would laugh for sure if they knew his identity. Headlines would read, “ _ The Disappearance of New York’s Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman Caused by Homework _ .” His reputation would be entirely ruined. He felt a wave of dread wash over him as he imagined false situations of what would happen while walking to the gym to rehearse for his play.

As he set foot in the gym and saw that the green bleachers were pulled out, he remembered that a special guest would be coming to school and presenting. Whoever it was was a “secret” from the whole school in order to surprise the students. He also remembered that he was going to miss his study hall period, which would occur during the presentation. He squeezed his eyes shut and gave one huge sigh at the amount of work needed to be done.

“Dong, your breath stinks. Have you been brushing recently?”

Donghyuck’s eyes opened to the sight of Mark’s repulsed face, and that made his day ten times worse. The nickname  _ Dong _ added salt to the wound and fueled his anger.  _ Maybe I shouldn’t have saved him _ , Donghyuck thought.

“ _Excuse_ me?” he asked, placing a hand on his chest. “Do _not_ call me that, you moose.”

“Is that because I’m Canadian? How fu—”

“Both of you, shut up and get to the stage. Mr. Smith wants to rehearse,” Jaemin said, popping up from behind Donghyuck.

Donghyuck did a double take not only because Jaemin had not been there before but also because Jaemin’s face looked unhealthier than before, to say the least. His dark circles began to have their own dark circles, and his skin tone almost seemed like he was one sickness from death. His arms were covered by long sleeves, but as he walked and the sleeves lifted, large black and blue bruises could be seen underneath. Jaemin looked exhausted, but his eyes seemed to show energy as if he had just ridden a roller coaster and wanted to do so again. His eyes communicated anger along with that energy, which was not exactly the best combination to have if one were locked in a room with him.

“Geez, who hurt you?” Donghyuck asked, only half-joking and genuinely concerned for his best friend.

Jaemin glared at him. “Many, many people, Donghyuck, and I’m gonna beat your ass soon if you don’t get up there and act.”

Donghyuck’s eyes widened in fear. Not wanting to anger his best friend further, he rushed to the stage alongside Mark. He strutted next to him, trying not to pay attention to the boy he had just saved. However, he found his eyes darting to the side to watch him. Donghyuck shrugged it off at first, but he began to do it more and more often in the short amount of time it took from the middle of the gym to the stage. Mark glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, and just in time, Donghyuck whipped his head in the other direction.

“The hell’s up with you today?” Mark asked. “You’re fidgety and weird.”

“Why? Am I not allowed to be fidgety and weird?” Donghyuck snapped, still looking in the opposite direction.

Mark rolled his eyes. “I was just concerned for you for once. No need to get all angry or whatever.”

“Concerned?” Donghyuck huffed. He paused, not wanting to talk any more. A few moments later, he turned to Mark and said, “Well, actually, I’ve been pretty busy and everything. I’ve been trying to go for that Zhong Industries internship ‘cause I heard they’re accepting summer applications, but I’m gonna be really busy because of my… thing.”

“‘Thing’?”

“Yeah. Well, no. I’m actually going back to Korea for the summer, so I won’t be able to make it for the internship. How about you? Are you going to shoot for the internship?”

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” Mark sighed. “I don’t want that much pressure on me for junior and senior year, but I also want some work experience.”

Donghyuck sighed and looked right in front of him. They were already one step away from the dark stage, where the drama staff and actors were sitting and talking about miscellaneous subjects. As soon as Donghyuck stepped onto the stage, Mark’s foot caught onto the railing of the stairs, and he began to fall. Almost immediately, Donghyuck’s arm shot out to grab Mark before he reached the floor, and he managed to get a firm grip on his forearm. With a little tug, Donghyuck pulled Mark up to his feet and onto the stage.

Mark, eyes still wide from the shock, looked at Donghyuck. “Thanks,” he breathed.

“No prob,” Donghyuck said, a small smile making its way onto his face. He noticed a hint of confusion in Mark’s face after he said that, but he brushed it off.

Mark walked closer to Donghyuck and placed his hand on his shoulder. “You’re not as bad as I thought, Dong.”

、、、

“Shoot me. Shoot me now,” Donghyuck whispered to Jaemin. He was sitting in the gym on the pulled out bleachers, surrounded by many of his classmates, taking in all the body heat that resulted from how cramped up he was despite the fact that many of his classmates had gone to skip without the teachers knowing.

The entire gym was packed with high school students, lazily listening to the passionate speaker at the front. He wore a white lab coat and nice dress shoes and pants. His blonde hair was styled in a neat messiness. The sleeves of the lab coat he wore were uneven; the right sleeve was folded up until his elbow, and the left sleeve remained down, covering his entire left arm. He had no right arm up until his elbow, though only the students sitting at the front could see tiny nubs that represented small fingers protruding from the skin. Doctor Curtis Connors paced back and forth, gesturing with both arms about his research for the past few years.

“Now, see here,” Dr. Connors said, pointing to the powerpoint presentation he had projected onto the screen next to him, “I had devoted my life to finding how we as human beings can improve and be able to regenerate that which we have lost dearly. It’s like speeding up evolution, if you will.” He raised his right arm in the air. “That is why I have gone all across America, looking for every species of lizard and salamander to find one thing out: how do they do this? You always see lizards with cut off tails, and what happens a few days later? They grow back! Isn’t it fascinating? A salamander can regrow his own limbs! What if  _ we _ were able to do that? What if  _ we _ could have the ability to regenerate our own limbs?”

Dr. Connors produced something from his suitcase and held it up, showing it to the many teenagers listening intently. “This,” he said, “this is our evolution. I have managed to extract the regrowth factor in the DNA of lizards and added it to a serum for humans to use. I tested the prototype on mice, and only one survived with a regrown limb. What a breakthrough! My years of research turning into this! However, it still is not ready for human testing. I heard there are many bright minds in this school, so if you’d like to assist me, there is an Oscorp internship this summer. Our hourly wage for our interns is eighteen dollars an hour. Join us, and you will be contributing to one of the most fascinating and impactful breakthroughs in human history.”

As the students began to clap, Donghyuck sleepily turned to Jaemin. “Hey, you wanna come over like, next week? I’m gonna get a DVD of  _ The Force Awakens _ , and May is staying late at work, so she’s not gonna come home until, like, twelve. It’s gonna be awesome, I tell you.”

Jaemin looked uncomfortable. “Next week? Man, next week isn’t a good time for me. I have things to do, you know.”

Donghyuck pursed his lips. The other week, Jaemin had denied his offer for the annual end of the month March cookies they would always make together (which truly was a bummer, as Jaemin would have wanted to see the big “2016” they had made from cookies lined up together).

“Dude, what’s up with you? You’ve been ignoring my texts, declining our  _ weekly hangouts _ , which, by the way, you were always free for even though you had that party one time, and now I have a new Star Wars movie on DVD that we can watch at home, and you can’t make it? The hell’s going on?”

“I—”

Jaemin rolled down a bleacher or two. Donghyuck was startled from how suddenly it happened, then he looked up and saw Joshua and his friends laughing.

“The fuck was that!” he laughed. “He looked like a fucking hedgehog!”

Donghyuck stood up. “The fuck was that for, Joshua! He didn’t do anything!”

“Uh, yeah he did,” Joshua said in a “duh” tone. “You two were taking so long to stand up and walk out, so I gave Nerdy Na here a little push to get him going.”

“You’re a fucking asshole, Joshua. You know that, right?”

“Tch. Whatever,” Joshua said, running down the bleachers and out the gym.

Donghyuck rushed to Jaemin, who was still lying on the floor. His eyes portrayed no pain, and his face was blank. Donghyuck thought there was something wrong.

“Jaemin, you okay? Hey. Talk to me,” he said.

Jaemin sat up with a small groan. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied. “Anyway, I can’t go to your place for now, okay? Please understand that.”

Donghyuck helped his best friend up. “Yeah, I got it. Go rest up.”

For the rest of the school day, Donghyuck thought and thought about why Jaemin could not make it to any of the hangouts he had planned. Jaemin was not involved in sports. He had no after school tutoring. All he did was go home at the same exact time when his guardian would pick him up.

Then, he thought of the dumbest idea he was going to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the super short and low quality chapter but stan royaljen and her chensung au thanks


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